ResultsARDEN HILLS, Minn.—The Bethel University men's track and field team kicked off their season Saturday with the Bethel Open held at the Sports and Recreation Center on campus. The Royals, who said goodbye to many top performers from one year ago, saw several returners and a few fresh faces put forth promising efforts in their 2015 debut.
"This was a great first meet for us," commented head coach
Andrew Rock. "We were pleased with our results and feel like there is a lot to take pride in."
To no one's surprise
Matt Berens began his season with a great first effort in the men's 3,000-meter run, recording a time of 8:47.88. He finished just behind former Bethel great Dan Greeno, who ran unattached during the event.
Bryce DeBoer also had a nice showing in his first meet of the season, finishing first in the shot put event with a distance of 14.63 meters (48' 0") and second in the weight throw with a toss of 16.06 meters (52' 8¼"). Also strong field performer Saturday was
Cody Britt, who took first place in the pole vault with a height of 4.27 meters.
Beyond some of the more notable names from last year, a few made a name for themselves Saturday. Among those were
Elisha Hinton,
Karl Olsen, and
Dan Wahlstedt. Hinton, who primarily did jumps all last year, busted out of the gates for a time of 7.17 in the final heat of the men's 60-meter dash. Then he finished second in the open 200 with a time of 23.20, which was just behind BU newcomer
Karl Olsen, who took first with a blistering time of 22.83.
Dan Wahlstedt finished second in the men's 600-meter race with a time of 1:25.93.
The Royals' 4x400-meter relay team finished first in the last race of the afternoon by recording a time of 3:33.86. Runner-up St. Olaf made a strong push in the final lap, but Bethel was able to ward off all competitors.
BU will now take two weeks off before they get back into competitive action. Friday, January 23 they travel down Snelling Avenue to participate in the St. Thomas Invite.
